-cue Dragnet theme--

If a long-stay CLC Veteran...is transferred to the hospital and seeks to return to the CLC, he/she will be readmitted if the Veteran returns within 7 days from the time of transfer, and meets the criteria for care in that CLC....However, if that Veteran returns after 7 or more days from the time of transfer from the CLC, the Veteran may be readmitted as sooon as a CLC bed becomes available and the Veteran meets the criteria for care in that CLC.

No word on what they do with the Veteran if there is no Community Living Center bed available when he/she is ready to return. Cardboard box, maybe?

For Veterans with 100% disability, I believe the VA is required to find some kind of accommodation, in a private facility perhaps.

Seven days is a long time to be hositalized these days and, in my experience, happens only in the case of things like open heart surgery or end stage COPD. Most of the time, 2-3 days and the patient is sent back to where he came from, ready or not.

The letter went on to say that this change was being made concomitantly with a shorter length-of-stay in acute hospital care.

So picture this scenario: N is so seriously ill that he spends more than 7 days in acute hospital care. When he gets out he is more than likely to be too ill to return home in any case, needing skilled nursing for the illness in addition to the regular nursing care he needs to maintain his current day-to-day living.

So his panic that he was going to be kicked to the curb (and I was going to have to come and rescue him once again), just the fantasy of a fevered brain. Thank goodness!

By the way, please read Jim's rant--comment #7--in respose to yesterday's entry. It's priceless! Thank you, Jim.